Legal Question in Employment Law in California

California law is ambiguous on this point. The problem is that employers were trying to skirt the rule by not letting employees take lunches until the end of their shift. So the labor standards enforcement people have issued various conflicting rulings on when the break must be taken. It is pretty clear that unless the employee agrees in writing otherwise, the break must be made available to them within the first six hours. Some rulings have said 5. There are also rulings that the employer must make sure the employee takes the break and others that say the employee must simply be given the opportunity and relieved of all duties for 1/2 hour, but if the employee chooses to work through the break the employer cannot be penalized. The bottom line, though, is that even if you were 100% right that there is no legal requirement that the meal break be given within the first 5 hours, your employer has every right to control the timing of breaks, so long as they are not timed to circumvent the law (such as by giving you the break after 8.25 hours and then having you clock back in at 8.75 to 9). So they don't have to be right about their reason; they are free to require you to take your break in the first 5 hours for no reason at all.